


holding this moment for you

by spock



Category: Big Eden (2000)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Connected Scenes, Extra Treat, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Misunderstandings, Platonic Soulmates, Reveal, Romantic Soulmates, Schmoop, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 13:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5049994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/pseuds/spock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everybody knows that Dean is head over heels for Henry and will do just about anything to make him smile. It isn't as if Henry hasn't always been mooning after Dean right back, either. Pike hadn't thought he'd ever have the guts to come out and just ask. </p><p>Looks like he's braver than he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	holding this moment for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [carolinecrane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/gifts).



Two months before Pike's set to graduate from high school, his dad dies. His future is pretty much set in stone after that.

 

* * *

 

Pike splits his time picking up unwanted shifts at the labor yard and working at his dad's — _his_ general store. He's never been one for company, but his father's passing made what few connections he had with the outside world all the more apparent. There's a group of guys about twenty years Pike's seniors that his father always used to shoo away from loitering out front of the store, but Pike just can't bring himself to tell them to leave, if only for the unintentional company they provide.

For those first few months it felt like the only thing that got him out of bed was knowing that Henry Hart was still kicking around town, even though Pike has always known that nothing will ever come out of that pipe-dream.

He grew up to tales of Henry-&-Dean, who realized they were soulmates not long after they were out of their nappies and thick as thieves ever since. Pike hasn't so much as spoken a word to Henry in their entire lives, even when they were at the same school for a while, Pike an incoming freshman with Henry and Dean living large during the senior year. Pike doesn't actually think they've actually made eye contact, truth be told, but that hasn't ever seemed to stop whatever it is that's inside him that always seems to pull towards Henry.

It'd be just his luck to have a one-sided bond to half the town's most beloved couple. He's under no illusions that if it ever came out and the choice came down between them and _him_ , Pike would be run off the mountain without anyone so much as thinking twice about it.

When the autumn finally rolls around and Henry leaves for college, Pike convinces himself that it's for the best. It's for his own livelihood that he's never told anyone, after all, not even his father, back when he was still alive. That, and he's not sure he'd survive having his suspicions confirmed.

As it is, right now he's lonely because he chooses to be, but there's still a possibility that things won't always be like this. He doesn't want to know, without any doubt or room for hope, that he'll spend the rest of his life this way because of fate.

 

* * *

 

Nobody tells Pike that Henry's back in town for his break. Of course, there's no one in his life close enough that would want to gossip with him, nor any reason for them to think to do so. Henry's here to visit Dean and his granddad. Still, a bit of warning would have been nice, even if it came from Pike overhearing someone else's conversation because they didn't notice he was nearby, invisible as he is.

Pike's poking around behind the counter, eyes glancing up to mumble a greeting, words dying on his tongue when he sees Henry walking through the door, the first time Pike's seen him in months. Their eyes catch and he feels like he's about to stroke-out and come in his pants at the same time.

At least now he knows that the last ten or so years worth of skulking around, avoiding Henry at all costs, hadn't been a waste. It's a small consolation that Henry looks just as affected.

"Who," Henry says. "What?" Pike can't bring himself to say anything, but that's hardly anything new. In the back of his mind he thinks to himself, _shit, shit, shit, shit, shit_.

They stare at one another. Pike digs down deep inside himself and finds the nerve to take a step forward, trying to bridge the gap between them. Henry turns heel and bolts out through the door.

 

* * *

 

Pike runs into them at the grocery store, Dean hanging all over Henry as they roll through the isles. Henry catches sight of Pike before he has has a chance to make his escape.

Dean lets go of Henry long enough to grab a box of cereal off the shelf and toss it into their cart, but then he's right back at Henry's side, swinging his arm around Henry's shoulder.

Henry jerks away from Dean's touch, as if he'd been burned. Pike feels something pull tight between Henry and he.

Dean springs into motion, crowding into Henry's space, bringing his hands up to stroke his fingers along Henry's cheeks, whispering questions of _what's wrong_ ; _are you alright_ ; _say something_. Henry doesn't bother answering. Instead, he all but drags Dean back down the isle and out of Pike's line of sight, their cart abandoned.

 

* * *

 

Henry starts coming into Pike's store for the random odds and ends. Having him around helps to settle the strange bout of anxiety that always seems to press at Pike's nerves, clears the headache that's taken to hammering at his skull during random intervals throughout the day. They never talk, but it's not as if Pike actually minds. He's never been one for talking anyway.

There's only so much not-talking they can do, though. It's Henry who crosses that bridge. "Can you order me some paint supplies?"

Pike's had an catalog hid under the counter dating back to the first time he'd heard that Sam Hart's boy was looking to make himself an artist. He pulls it out and sets it on the counter between them wordlessly, trying to come up with something interesting to say.

Henry flips through the pages, sneaking little glances up at Pike, as if Pike isn't noticing everything about him right them, down to how many times he's blinked in the last minute. Pike wants the first thing he's ever said to Henry to have some weight. He doesn't know why he hadn't planned this out before, years ago even, the first time his heart had flopped at the sight of him.

Henry starts naming the things he'd like Pike to order for him and Pike has to scramble for a pen, diligently writing down the names in his compact, neat handwriting. Henry neglects to read off the item codes alongside the names, but Pike won't mind the extra work of flipping back through the book later to retrieve them.

Their hands brush when Pike goes to turn the page on the tiny little order sheet that came with the book. Pike feels as if his body's been set on fire in the best possible way. He stills, afraid to break the contact, and Henry seems to be of a similar mind. They stay touching for a while, until Henry finally pulls his hand back. Pike's not sure he'd have the strength. If it were up to him, he'd keep touching Henry's hand until the day he died.

Henry thanks him and says he can pay whenever Pike likes. He's halfway out the door when Pike stammers out, "What — what do you need so many supplies for?"

Henry doesn't bother turning back to face Pike when he says, "I'm taking a break from school for a while. It's been hard on Dean, me being away at college. I wanna see how sticking around here for a bit works out for me — for _us_."

Pike tells himself not to hope.

It's harder than it's ever been to actually listen to himself.

 

* * *

 

A snowstorm kicks itself to life while Pike's up at the Hart's place, delivering Henry's latest batch of art supplies. Fate's clearly enjoyed shaking up Pike's life thus far, so why should it stop now?

Henry must spot him through the window as Pike very shakily parks his truck, because he's waiting with the door open by the time Pike manages to trek his way up to the house. The door sounds ominous as it closes behind them.

"Where's Dean?" Pike asks. Every other time that he's come up here to drop something off, Dean's never been far from Henry's side. He sets Henry's supplies down on the kitchen counter and leans into the hallway a bit, listening to see if Dean's somewhere deeper in the house.

"At the mill," Henry says.

"Sam?" Pike presses, already expecting the worst.

"Trapped at Widow Thayer's." Henry doesn't sound particularly hard-pressed as he says it. He steps away from the door and walks to Pike's side, poking inside the box, looking at what Pike's brought. "He managed to get a call in before the storm got too bad." As if that makes any difference. "You're welcome to say," Henry offers. As if Pike has any choice. As if Henry even does.

Pike doesn't lie to himself, doesn't think that Henry cares about him. It's negligence if he lets Pike drive out into a storm like that, since there's no way he'll make it home in one piece with this weather. At worst, Pike's death may pull at the connection between them and cause Henry some minor, insignificant hurt. Either way, Dean'll be there to soothe it over.

He doesn't know why Henry bothers.

He doesn't know why _he_ bothers. He's not even sure if Henry actually feels anything, is the thing. One-sided soulmates affect each person differently. The other person might not feel a thing, while others say it's like the ghost of a feeling, there and yet not. The potential of something, enough to give you hope, but at the same time, never enough to let you lose sight and blind yourself to that it's not complete, not that perfect thing that'll finally make you feel whole.

Henry's clearly affected by whatever it is that's between them, but Pike hasn't got any clue as to why. People who're fully bonded to another person always say that any feedback from their one-sided soulmate dulls down significantly for the both of them once they've found their true One. With each passing day, Pike feels as if the connection between them is getting stronger, not weakening.

None of it makes any sense.

Pike doesn't have the fight in him to argue though, so he stays, sitting awkwardly at the dining room table while Henry steps around the kitchen to fix them something to nibble on while they wait out the weather.

Henry talks as he works. He doesn't leave any pauses for Pike to get a word in edgewise, just keeps on speaking, filling up the silence so that Pike doesn't have to.

Pike loves it.

 

* * *

 

"Are you bonded to Dean too?"

It's been on the back of Pike's mind for weeks now, after he'd realized that what he had with Henry wasn't a one-sided thing, but a something mutual between the both of them, fully reciprocated and real. He's heard of people having two soulmates before, ones that overlap and tie themselves into a neat bow, so it's not impossible. Except Pike doesn't feel shit for Dean, doesn't like the thought of having to share Henry with him. That, more than anything else, has Pike feeling like he already knows the answer to this question.

Still, there's that voice in the back of his mind that says he's a damn fool for doing this to himself. Everybody knows that Dean is head over heels for Henry, would do anything to make him smile. It isn't as if Henry hasn't always been mooning after Dean right back, either.

He hadn't thought he'd have the guts to ever come out and ask. Looks like he's braver than he thought.

Henry laughs, rough and ugly and frayed at the edges. "Nope," He says, and Pike's heat stops in his chest. "Well, not really — it's platonic; one-sided, just him to me." His eyes are big, glassy, red-rimmed. Pike steps forward and hugs Henry to his chest because he can't _not_.

"I thought mine was delayed," Henry continues. "Or that maybe I just couldn't. I was so sure. Then I met you and," he cuts himself off, mouth twisting into a hard line, but he raises his head so that he's looking deep into Pike's eyes, gaze unwavering.

"Oh." It's all Pike can think to say as he tries to push back his smile. There's a giddiness rising up inside of him, a thousand different things bubbling in his mind. It feels like every time he manages to shove one down, another takes it as a chance to break free, like buoys forcing their way up to the top of a lake.

For what feels like the first time in Pike's life, there's hope.

**Author's Note:**

> And then they get a happy ending after Henry finally tells Dean that it's one sided. They expect some big angsty fight but no! Dean's always suspected that all along that it was a platonic soulmate situation, and he doesn't mind, just as long as he and Henry can still be BFFs, because all the romantic stuff had just been him pretending to make Henry happy. 
> 
> Full disclosure: I have been wanting to write you a _big eden_ treat for the past two yuletides! It's grown into this 100k-worthy 'verse in my head that's never quite seemed to translate into an actually-written-down-thing whenever I actually try. "Well not this time!" I said to myself when i saw that you requested it for this exchange. "This is the year!"
> 
> So — little snippets are conductive for _Trick or Treat_ and it turns out little snippets are the only way I could get this story out? It's a treat in that it's an extra story, but it's a trick because it's terrible and i'm the worst. I hope you like it anyway ;___; Happy Halloween!


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